I would love the chance to come to Seattle and look up the neighborhoods and (if possible) people I’ve gotten to know since moving here in 1996…just to see what they were like in the early 80s.
Not much would annoy me, I think. I was 16 in 1983 and enjoyed it quite a lot, though it would surely look different through my 40-year-old time-traveling eyes.
1983…
The first thing I’d do is run out and get Madonna’s debut album and tickets to her first tour.
Then I would probably drop in on my pregnant mother or, if it’s after March the 4th, babysit for her a while so she can attend her college courses without having to drag me into the classroom with her.
And me? It would be great to see (and perhaps shag, yes I was a wannabe slut) some of my favorite bands of that era. Can’t think of anything major I would hate, mostly those already mentioned: internet, cell phones, Reagan…
Jesus, but I’d be rich by now, since I know who’s going to win every major sporting championship.
Biff? That you?
I would also take the chance to visit DC and fully participate in the Go Go music scene, see Trouble Funk, Chuck Brown, EU Freeze, Sluggo, etc.
In fact, I’d seriously make a point to see the Minor Threat, Big Boys, Trouble Funk concert. That would have been seriously rad.
My husband just bought me an MP3 player for Christmas, and I have to say that I have been getting a huh-YUGE kick out of all the old Police stuff I’ve downloaded. Swooshes me right back to my youth . . . but I think I like 'em even better now than I did back in the day.
Still, I can’t help thinking there’s something mildly pathetic about a 37 year old woman blasting “Can’t Stand Losin’ You” in her car as if she were 14 again . . . 
What everyone else said about concerts, and watching actual music videos on MTV.
Meanwhile, during the day I’d slip on my Members Only Jacket, grab a Nikkormat 35mm camera, a few lenses and a shitload of Kodachrome 64, and go around photographing as many railroad locations as I could, especially one where the railway (like the Denver and Rio Grande Western) or the tracks themselves (like Tennessee Pass) no longer exist.
Yep once, a nerd, always a nerd.
I don’t think there’s much of anything that would bug me much about being stuck in that period, except for having to send the film off to be developed and waiting a week for the slides to come back. Otherwise, those were the salad days as far as I was concerned.
I’m with the folks who would soak in the punk and alternative music scenes.
Then I’d be sure to look up my first boyfriend, who went on the commit suicide a year and a half ago, which still has the power to stun me with sadness when I think about it.
Count me as one for whom having Reagan as President over again would totally rock!
I had a brief stint in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s. It was very pretty indeed. I did hook up with a fellow American on that trip who, along with his father, actually did drive a bus filled with supplies all the way to Managua. It was an interesting story.
1983 was a great year for me. Would we be able to meet our former selves? Bet I’d be surprised to meet me and hear what was in store. But then would I do the same things, since that may have changed my outlook or expectations? I’d definitely look up a couple of girls I remember and use information about them gleaned at a later date to my advantage.
I’d miss computers and the Internet. MTV would actually be better, because back then they actually played music videos! And then there was the original MTV crew, who were great. (MTV started in August of 1981, if I remember correctly.)
I’d go to the arcade and play Atari all day! Then I watch *Return of the Jedi * but have to wait 22 years to see how the *Star Wars * series ends. Oh yeah, WarGames!
I would see as many punk, metal, and rock concerts as possible!
i’m assuming that what ever we acquire we cannot bring back with us? If that is not the case - then i would stock up on a bunch of books that are no longer in print in 2000’s, get the recipe for Taco-John’s taco salad dressing, and I dont know… I really hated the 80’s
Word of explanation about the thread: I’d originally thought 1980, but then decided to make it an even quarter-century so went with 1983 (damn! was that really 25 years ago?). Obviously I made the John Lennon reference before changing and did a botchy edit job.
Anyway, I realized just recently how spoiled I am with DVDs just in the past few years when I watched an old miniseries on VHS recently (it’s never been released on DVD). Of course 1983 was when you could still get BetaMax as well and probably a few of those playable record sized movie disks (were those things at all like DVDs in quality/control?)
Something small I miss from those years were all the independent bookstores (almost always owned by eccentric owners who knew their collection better than they did their children’s names and birthdays) and I’m convinced customer service was better all around.
Of course I’d have to be unfashionable when I vacationed there because there’s no way in hell I’m going to do that damned razor part down the middle of my hair again. 
I’d eat as many Taco Bell Bell-Beefers as I could. Those things were the awesome. I think they had those then… I was 10 in '83. I’d also have fun with the little tubs the hot sauce came in.
I’d definitely check out Jedi on opening night, and quote, out loud, almost every line.
I’d buy a DeLorean.
I might go down to Florida and hopefully catch the Challenger launch.
Investigate the residential and commercial areas of my home town to see how much if it doesn’t exist yet, as to what I’m familiar with.
I’d certainly miss Internet, good television, and CDs/DVDs. Also, colosseum-style seating wasn’t the norm in movie theaters, nor superior surround/THX sound.
I’d miss modern decor, although, I’d be intrigued by the era.
My iPhone.
I’d definitely have fun at a local arcade, and play all the classics! Also, visit the corner candy store I used to hang out at, and talk with the very nice owner Mrs. A. She was also so cool to us kids. It’d be interesting to have a conversation with her as an adult. Og rest her soul.
Drink some Towne*Club soda! YUMM.
Might try some ecstasy since it was still legal back then.
To answer your question about laser discs:
The visual component was generally the same quality as regular DVD images are, now. Because the coding was less compressed than on a DVD it is my opinion that LDs actually have better image quality than DVDs do. And I’ve heard the same from several other people who have had LDs. I really get annoyed with DVD image artifacts, myself. Similarly the audio was also less compressed than that on DVD, and some people really notice the difference.
Having said that, LDs had at most two audio tracks, not the multiples that DVDs have. So, no director’s commentary. Similarly, the only way to sneak subtitles into the LD were either to hijack the closed captioning, or to burn the subtitle into the actual image.
Finally, LDs were, as a natural result of the minimal data compression, generally much shorter than a DVD. LDs had two standard data formats: CAV, which was the highest image quality - but also limited the DVD to a half hour per side; and the more common CLV was limited to about an hour. Also many players lacked a “turn over” feature to allow the player to play both sides of the LD without having to have the operator pull the LD out and flip it over. So, I got used to talking about how many sides a movie might be on, rather than how many discs. Sound of Music, for example is a three sided LD, by this measurement.
The main advantage to my mind of DVD over LD is not image quality, nor sound quality, nor storage capability - simply the convenience factor. And I think that part of the public support for DVD over LD was simply the association of LDs with records, which were being condemned for being “old-fashioned.”
About half of my LDs have director’s commentary tracks/alternate audio. That was one of the joys of the format, an innovation by Criterion that got wide acceptance. (Or are you saying instead that 1983 LDs didn’t have director’s commentary? That one would be true-- frankly, my pre-1988-or-so LDs aren’t much better than Beta in terms of quality or features.)
About 75% of my LDs are anime, and the analog audio track was used for Japanese, while the digital was the English language track. And the few Criterion LDs I have must predate that innovation.
I think whatever visual advantages LDs might have had over DVDs, the lack of progressive scan TVs back the would have negated them. YMMV.
Started with Video Killed the Radio Star by the ‘Buggles’ who went on to join ‘Yes’ briefly.